1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for playing games, and in particular, to a system and method for concurrently displaying a current playing hand and cards issued in the playing hands of one or more previous games.
2. Description of the Related Art
Video-based games of chance have enjoyed widespread popularity. These games, which include video poker and video blackjack, can be played according to a virtually endless variety of rules.
In a typical draw poker game, the player is issued a playing hand of five cards. The player then selects a number of cards as xe2x80x9cheldxe2x80x9d cards. Cards not selected as xe2x80x9cheldxe2x80x9d cards are discarded, and newly issued cards take their place. The player""s hand is then evaluated to determine if it includes a winning hand.
In most cases, the deck from which the playing cards are obtained (typically, an electronic xe2x80x9cdeckxe2x80x9d) is xe2x80x9cshuffledxe2x80x9d before each game is played, and hence, the cards issued in a previous hand provide little or no information regarding the probability of any particular card being issued in the next succeeding game. Nonetheless, many players, even those who are aware of the statistical independence of the cards issued in successive games, regard information regarding previous games as a useful indicator of the probability of the identity of the cards issued in the current game. It is also true that virtually all random number generators do not produce truly random numbers. Rather, they produce numbers that appear to be random. In fact, in some cases, data from random number generators manifest characteristics similar to fractals, indicating that such numbers are not truly random. What is needed is a system that allows the player to make this judgment for themselves, and to consider the playing cards issued in previous games when determining which cards to xe2x80x9choldxe2x80x9d and which to xe2x80x9cdraw.xe2x80x9d The present invention satisfies that need.
To address the requirements described above, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, article of manufacture for concurrently presenting a current playing hand and cards issued in previous playing hands.
The method comprises the steps of presenting a playing hand having at least one card and a representation of at least one card issued in at least one previous game to a player; determining an outcome of the game; and taking an action according to an outcome of the game. The article of manufacture comprises a program storage device tangibly embodying instructions for performing the method steps described above.
The apparatus comprises a processor, communicatively coupled to a display and a user input device, and a memory, coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions for concurrently displaying a playing hand having at least one card and a representation of at least one card issued in a previous hand.